EDHEC Finance Club: Films

Wall Street
Year: 1987
Producer: Oliver Stone
With: Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen

While the sequel recently appeared on cinema screens worldwide (Wall Street, money never sleeps, released on 29 September 2010), we decided to inaugurate our page with a film classic and one of Oliver Stone's most well-known films (see JFK, Platoon, Natural born killers…).

The plot: Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), a powerful and ruthless investor agrees to take a young, ambitious stockbroker, Buddie Fox (Charlie Sheen), under his wing. It's the start of a perverted game in which Gordon, who has enormous influence over his protégé, gradually introduces the latter to illegal finance practices.

While the images have dated somewhat (too eighties), Wall Street remains an excellent film. This is largely down to the exceptional casting, with, among others, Michael Douglas perfect as a greedy but seductive and hugely charismatic financier.
The presence of Sheen, father and son, both in life and on screen, is also worth mentioning: what could have been a risky move, in fact works perfectly. Both are very moving, torn between their affection for one another and their different lifestyles that bring them into conflict.
The film is also famous for its many quotes: “what's worth doing is worth doing for money“; “greed is good"; “I'm talking about liquid: rich enough to have your own jet, rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing.”
Last but not least, the film manages to be credible when it talks about finance (the financial scenes are especially convincing), and this is quite rare on screen! Credit goes to Oliver Stone, whose father was a stockbroker.

We highly recommend this film. It's not by chance that has become a classic. It gave Michael Douglas a huge career boost and you can't go wrong with it. It's a real screen classic.